Sacred Heart Health System to build new Five-Story Children's Hospital

Introduction:

Sacred Heart Health System announced plans to build a new five-story Children's Hospital, along with a major expansion to women's services.

Features:

The expanded Children's Hospital will allow the hospital to provide care for more children, increase access to specialized pediatric and maternity care and consolidate pediatric services in one convenient location. The opening of the new Children's Hospital is expected to add 100 Sacred Heart jobs for the local community. This growth of healthcare services will also enable recruitment of new pediatric specialists.

The expansion is currently planned in two phases. The first phase will focus on the new, five-story, 120,000 square-foot Children's Hospital, which will be constructed in front of the existing Children's Hospital, extending from the current pediatric transport ambulance bay into the parking lot. The new building will connect to the current Children's Hospital by a ground-level, glass-covered walkway and will include:

• Pediatric Emergency Department and Trauma Center, an expansion and relocation of Sacred Heart's current Pediatric Emergency Department, which is now next to the adult Emergency Department and Trauma Center. Consolidating children's emergency and inpatient services in one building will allow for more coordinated care and shorter discharge processes for children. Sacred Heart provides the region's only pediatric trauma referral center.

• Pediatric Surgery. With the construction of the new Children's Hospital, Sacred Heart will add six, pediatric-dedicated operating rooms. This will consolidate all surgeries and procedures that require sedation into one area with a child-friendly environment designed to include family support, all with the goal of reducing stress and anxiety.

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This expansion and relocation of Sacred Heart's current NICU beds will enable The Children's Hospital to care for more premature and critically ill infants from across Northwest Florida. In addition to offering the area's only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Children's Hospital maintains two specially equipped neonatal critical care transport ambulances for the transfer of premature and critically ill newborns from other hospitals across Northwest Florida to The Children's Hospital. The NICU of the new Children's Hospital will offer private rooms in its Level III unit, which includes the most critically ill babies.

• Pediatric Oncology, with an expanded inpatient unit to provide specialized, inpatient care for children with cancer.

• Extended stay/observation beds will represent a new inpatient unit for The Children's Hospital, caring for children who aren't yet ready to go home.

Phase 1 of construction is scheduled for completion in late 2017. Phase 2 will focus on renovating the third floor of the current Children's Hospital, which will remain home to pediatric services such as the pediatric intensive care unit, child life playrooms and pediatric satellite pharmacy. Phase 2 will also include a complete renovation and expansion of Sacred Heart's Maternity Center, the most preferred birthing center in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.